First Time Sertraline

[diddleydidi]

hiya i started taking sertraline 6 weeks ago after a sudden onslaught of panic, outta nowhere...... i started on 50mg, and i will be honest with you the first week was absolutely horrendous ... but after that first week i was feeling a little better .....after 2 weeks on 50mg i asked my gp to up my dosage as i was getting panicky about 7/8 hours after taking it ...... my gp upped my dose to 100mg, after a week of 100mg i returned to work, on a phased return to work period which will be up on 5th may.... and ive improved again, instead of having full panic attack mode i occasionally just have a day where im anxious but i havent had any full panic attacks .... i may have palpetations, or the shivers .... or i may just feel nervous with clammy skin, which i can manage easily..... just stick at it they can take a month or 2 to work to its full capacity, of course everyone is different but your gp should be monitoring you on it ...... ive got a journal to record days of anxiety and how i feel and if anything physical happens to my body ..... ive found that this helps to, hope this helps

[AFin26]

Day 9:

So I upped my dosage yesterday to 50mg and it's fair to say that the side effects are still there. Pretty much just tired all the time! That's what I'm mainly struggling with and I don't feel particularly happy or improved with my mood.

Hoping it gets better soon

[LiveAboveIt]

Day 8 here, just upped my dose from 25mg to 50mg. The only side effects I'm noticing is an eyelid twitch that can persist for hours. Nothing much else other than that, it gets annoying though. I noticed a mild improvement in both mood and anxiety while on the 25mg, so I hope it gets better from here.

[AFin26]

Oh boy it's getting rough! Last two days I've completely lost my appetite and I have diarea very bad.

Please tell me this gets easier :( it's making my life worse! I can't do anything or go anywhere at the moment!

[ChesterGirl]

How are you getting on AFin26?

I managed to escape the many possible side effects, and felt fairly rubbish at the start anyway so probably wouldn't have noticed! I've been on 50mg Sertraline for about 12 months now and it's been such a significant help with my anxiety. I was having panic attacks 4 or 5 times a week and reached a point where, even though I was worried about taking medication, I desperately needed some respite and help.

I've probably had 4 or 5 'start up' panic flaps in these 12 months, and no 'full blown' ones, so Sertraline is definitely working for me so far. I've just been upped (today, so only just!) to 100mg a day for persistent low mood. The lack of frequency in panic attacks is just brilliant, I'm not sure I could have coped much longer.

Take care and stick with it, I really hope it works for you x

[AFin26]

Well the nasty side effects have gone which is good and I do feel much more positive than I have ever felt.

One thing though......

I have lost like 4 lbs and I have barely any appetite and when I do eat I only eat like a little bit before I feel full.

What's that about? Is that normal?

[LiveAboveIt]

Very normal.. Some people experience increased or decreased appetite. It will eventually pass.. Just do your best to make sure you are eating healthy and drinking plenty of water in the meantime.

[Catya]

Hi.
I'm just a little behind you in starting this medication. I'm just on the last few of my pack, so about 24 days in total.
I swapped from citalopram, so don't know if this causes problems, but I'm getting really low moods early evening.
To anyone else who's been on this drug longer how long does one have to wait before positives appear?
I will start a new thread if this intrudes into your queries Afin26, but I thought our queries seem very similar.
Thanks.